Discussion Topic |
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bachar
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Feb 22, 2007 - 01:27am PT
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I know you're gonna think I've lost my mind but doesn't anybody mantle anymore?
What ever happened to the "mantle specialist"? You remember those guys - they couldn't climb worth beans but damn could they mantle...
Is it a lost art?
Post some pics if any exist!
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Russ Walling
Social climber
Out on the sand.... man.....
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Feb 22, 2007 - 01:30am PT
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Shawn Curtis.... mantle king....
I have seen pics... Tarbuster I think has them.
Hardest Mantle: hmmmmm...... one of them camp 4 things just off the trail... no idea on the name. Or was it Swan Slab.....? seen tons of shiit hot climbers flail on the Stem Gem mantle.
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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Feb 22, 2007 - 01:37am PT
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"death vomit", f.a. rick allenby, mt.woodson.
uNrepeated.
wooDSon B1++.
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pc
climber
East of Seattle
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Feb 22, 2007 - 01:40am PT
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Mountain Room Bar - "hood" thingy? More yoga for me...
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bachar
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 22, 2007 - 01:42am PT
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Yeah, I haven't seen any of the newest testpieces out there but the "Stem Gem" mantle has to be up there - even though it's only 12a old school.
"Purple Barrel" near Curry Village is pretty stout as well (12a).
That one below the "Wineglass Traverse" is pretty stout as well (Camp 4, 12a).
Kauk's old buddy, Tony, used to crank those things. He was like the Bay Area's version of Shawn Curtis (multiple one arm mantles = no sweat).
Death Vomit ??? hmmm..when was that one done? Didn't Shawn Curtis have some badass mantles down at Woodson?
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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Feb 22, 2007 - 01:48am PT
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john -- woodson has a whole slew of sick mantles from the mid-80's.
rick allenby --semi-pro arm wrestler -- did the sickest of 'em.
"death vomit" -- his opus -- is still unrepeated, 20 years later.
dude was SWOLE.
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Russ Walling
Social climber
Out on the sand.... man.....
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Feb 22, 2007 - 01:49am PT
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hahaha! I've done the Mt. Room bar hood mantle.... trick is to find those two little divots and then spit on your forearm, to make it extra sticky or clean or whatever.... then claw on up there.... Mucho hard. Back when the Cliff Room was that whole area you could work on it without security getting on your case.
Done the Purple Barrel, but have never done the Stem Gem mantle, but I've only tried it 2000 times. Used to watch Lechlinski do it like 4 or five times in a row while coaching me... damn, he could press it out!
The Nicopress (or was it Smoke Detector?) out at Josh is pretty darn hard too.....
Press it out edit: Isn't "pebble without a cause" some sort of jingus mantle too???
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Bruce Morris
Social climber
Belmont, California
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Feb 22, 2007 - 01:52am PT
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"Butterfly Mantle" (V7), the Beak, Castle Rock State Park? FA: Rick Reider, late 70s.
"Planet Caravan", original way, V9, back side of Goat Rock, Castle Rock SP. FA: Jeremy Meigs, middle 90s.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Feb 22, 2007 - 01:53am PT
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when I looked up "swole" I found this picture...
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pc
climber
East of Seattle
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Feb 22, 2007 - 01:56am PT
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Creepy. Why mantle when you can crush the rock and walk over it.
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WBraun
climber
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Feb 22, 2007 - 01:58am PT
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There is one here in the Valley behind C4. Dale bard is the only ascent ever. This mantle has no name.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Feb 22, 2007 - 02:05am PT
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Squamish is known for its slopers, so there's probably some horrible mantles amongst its boulders. I don't boulder much, so can't say more. Of course, it isn't in the U.S.A....
Dick Cilley had the fireplace mantle wired, pre-bar days.
Someone authoritative once commented about the bouldering near Camp 4 as being almost entirely mantles, most of which were of little relevance to training for Valley climbs.
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bachar
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 22, 2007 - 02:09am PT
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All right, we'll include Canada....and Mexico too, what the hell.
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Loomis
climber
Blava nie, ty kokot!
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Feb 22, 2007 - 02:51am PT
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Have done the "Stem Gem" mantle over 20 times, way hard press!
This thing I found on a trip to the wind rivers ( around 19 years old ) seemed much harder.
"Butterfly" mantles place strange forces on the body, felt like my shoulders would pop out of socket after placing my arms straight to finish the problem.
Edit: The secret to the Mt. room bar mantle. Wash your hands with cold water before and wipe the edge with a bar napkin. But that was long ago...
Edit2: Perhaps the hardest mantle in the US is to do the "Stem Gem" mantle " Meg Mets" style? ( for those who know )
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HighDesertDJ
Trad climber
Arid-zona
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Feb 22, 2007 - 03:12am PT
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Which aspect of the Stem Gem does one mantle? I'm assuming we aren't talking about the actual Stem Gem problem but some contrivance of it?
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Lambone
Ice climber
Ashland, Or
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Feb 22, 2007 - 03:14am PT
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whoa! WTF!?
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Loomis
climber
Blava nie, ty kokot!
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Feb 22, 2007 - 03:18am PT
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High Desert: One mantles the sloping dish to the right, that you finish the "Stem Gem" from.
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James
climber
A tent in the redwoods
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Feb 22, 2007 - 03:19am PT
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The hardest mantle ain't in Squamish though Tim's Sloper problem is kinda burly. I'd have to say that some of the US's hardest mantle problems are out in Castle Rock. There's a couple that even Joe- a Castle Rock king who can invert his elbows- hasn't managed to send. Think double digit mantles.
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426
Sport climber
Buzzard Point, TN
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Feb 22, 2007 - 06:13am PT
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Interesting question...mebe better to ask "hardest left coast" rather than drummin up a "turf war"
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Feb 22, 2007 - 07:19am PT
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It's spelled "MANTEL" damnit! As in the mantelshelf above your fireplace.
Geeeeeeeez......
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426
Sport climber
Buzzard Point, TN
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Feb 22, 2007 - 07:37am PT
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mantle wins by attrition on d.com...
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quartziteflight
climber
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Feb 22, 2007 - 08:02am PT
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stem gem spanked me. I thought my left shoulder was going to explode while starting that thing. What's it rated?
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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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Feb 22, 2007 - 08:09am PT
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Hey Pete, John didn’t misspell the word. Everyone just misunderstood the question. John wants to talk about heavy metal fashion.
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426
Sport climber
Buzzard Point, TN
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Feb 22, 2007 - 08:30am PT
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"One person's V6 is another person's V2"-
qflight, you might try the "Uncle Tusi" beta (backwards--bonus points if you riff some bass lines). In a way it's easier than facing forwards. I always think the "slab finish" on SG is the crux, but my slab skillset isn't the solidest....
Mantlin' def. not a lost art in the SE. Usually "the crux"...
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Hootervillian
climber
the Hooterville World-Guardian
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Feb 22, 2007 - 10:05am PT
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'EZ's mantle' at black mountain. gotta be a V8 mantle. sit start to it hasn't gone yet i don't think. kk?
no mantlin' in the SE, just a bunch o 'slab dyno's'
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Feb 22, 2007 - 10:21am PT
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426 makes a good point. I think we need East and West division finals. Then an ultimate pushdown in an undiclosed venue in the Midwest featuring a glass mantel structure, combining the features from the other winners. Maybe set between the Lions in front of Chicago's Art Institute.
In my mispent youth I pursued mantels, the slounge fireplace hood, Stem gem Mantel. Thank Gawd, OW came along to take me away from that foolishness.
-a mixed technique wide crack/Mantel is the move into the no hands rest in Trench Warfare. Not as hard as some of those mentioned but hard enough.
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bachar
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 22, 2007 - 10:26am PT
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Oops...mantle or mantel? Who knows? Our climber usage is not really in the dictionary from what I can tell. We get to make up our own rockspeak...I'm all in favor of letting Russ figuring out the proper spelling. If he isn't up to it, maybe Largo could help us out.
From Merriam Webster's online dictionary thing:
Main Entry: man·tel
Pronunciation: 'man-t&l
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, mantle
1 a : a beam, stone, or arch serving as a lintel to support the masonry above a fireplace b : the finish around a fireplace
2 : a shelf above a fireplace
Edit: There's got to be a "Mickey Mantle" somewhere, no?
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Feb 22, 2007 - 10:31am PT
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Bachar had a nasty hard mantel on the back of Stoney Point, where you'd have to get both arms cocked on it and your face plastered right up against the wall. By the Hot Tuna Traverse. Powell has some hideous ones out at Roubidoux, on dimes. Purple Barrel isn't in the league of the really hard ones because you can kick your feet and sort of kip up the thing.
How about the mantel at Suicide Rock above the ledge on The Hernia, 5.12 with an anchor-breaker fall. Hard and worthless.
JL
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Hootervillian
climber
the Hooterville World-Guardian
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Feb 22, 2007 - 10:32am PT
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i'm thinking the direct on 'dangerously cheesy' could have a double diggy man.....er....press out. go down your road and take a left when the snow melts mr. B.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Feb 22, 2007 - 10:42am PT
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Jaybro's got a good idea, but I think the venue should be to mantle on The Bean!
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Off White
climber
Tenino, WA
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Feb 22, 2007 - 11:27am PT
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It is somewhat of a dying art, at least among the modern folks unlike us dusty old farts around here. Let me tell you a story...
I have a crag in my yard, old sandstone quarry, with maybe 35 routes on it. Some online friends, a couple from Portland OR dropped in for a visit and to check it out. They're pretty strong sport climbers, 5.12 is no big deal kind of people, logged stacks of hours at Smith, and genuinely sweet and wonderful individuals. So the female half waltzes up this nice 11a without breaking a sweat, snaps through the titular Manly Wham lunge without hesitation, gropes through the blind reachy delicacy crux without pause, and then blows off of the 5.8 mantel at the top because she just doesn't know how to do it! Made me reflect on the virtues of a well rounded education.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Feb 22, 2007 - 11:34am PT
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I think most old timers have lost the fire to push the envelope of mantling and have chosen instead to invest heavily in Mantle Insurance. You will see the insured at all the popular crags proudly displaying their policy and actively seeking to expand their personal coverage. Beer guts to some, a spare tire to others, to the insured that precious frontal lobe fulfills the simple promise that comes with every policy.
"Once your belt hits the lip, it's toward success you'll tip."
While not so hard, the 5.10d mantle on Demon's Delight has always been a favorite. You get an elevator ride if that one bucks you off!
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G_Gnome
Boulder climber
Sick Midget Land
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Feb 22, 2007 - 11:34am PT
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Bachar, did you ever do 'The Nostrils' mantle on Lion's Head at Stoney just past Turlock? Pretty damn hard, much harder than Stem Jem.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Feb 22, 2007 - 11:45am PT
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Also, sit down starts seem to lose their allure increasingly after the age of about 40, or so I am told.
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can't say
Social climber
Pasadena CA
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Feb 22, 2007 - 12:03pm PT
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I'm thinking Russ's "Speed of Leather" problem at Josh, but I don't think the mantel is the crux of that rig.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Feb 22, 2007 - 12:09pm PT
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Per Russ's earlier post reference to the Sean Curtis collection; man I wish I had some shots of Sean "pushin' down"...
That was his deal to be sure, 'speshly at Woodson.
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chappy
Social climber
ventura
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Feb 22, 2007 - 12:49pm PT
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There were so many hard Mantels in the Valley. Lots of good mantelers as well (is this how you spell mantelers??)Hard to tell what was the hardest or who was the best though. I do remember Dale was pretty damn good at them. Purple Barrel is more of the one arm mantel while using a little crimper near where you set your palm (or so I remember)type of Mantle. There were many others that you had to c*#k both elbows at the same time. Werner remember that one right behind the rescue site that you have jump for...the mantel is respectable (not super hard) but if you don't stick the jump you can get hurt. Didn't you pop your knee out on it once???
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Blowboarder
Boulder climber
Back in the mix
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Feb 22, 2007 - 04:03pm PT
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Pig Pen into the NicoPress exit is a really cool problem.
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nate23
Trad climber
c-ville, virginia
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Feb 22, 2007 - 04:04pm PT
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two-pop in boone is a pretty famous hard mantel. boone lends itself to that particular style of climbing.
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Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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Feb 22, 2007 - 04:38pm PT
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Posted this on rockclimbing.com awhile back on a sandbag thread:
"Mantle Variation" at the City of Rocks. On the King on the Throne. Was rated 5.8 in the old Bingham guide.
Newer guide calls it "Rap and Pillage" and it sprouted bolts and is rated 5.12c, or something.
Looks so innocent, too. Man, I waisted a bunch of rubber on that route...
Pretty fun, though. Low to the ground, not too much chance of gettin' hurt on it, which makes it a fun sandbag...
I think its an old Yaniro problem.
-Brian in SLC
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bachar
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 22, 2007 - 04:58pm PT
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G gnome - yeah the "Lion's Head" had some bad ass mantels. I was able to do 'em all but Jim Wilson was the master at those.
Chapman - Hell yeah Dale could mantel! Kauk's friend Tony too...so could RK himself, and you too if I remember correctly.
Largo - remember the "V" mantel in C4 ? - I think that was yours. Not the hardest press , but weird on the elbows and palms.
What about those old school Pratt mantels on Columbia Boulder? Way ahead of their time!
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kk
climber
overrun with traffic and people land, aka S.D.
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Feb 22, 2007 - 05:25pm PT
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yeah hoot, the EZ mantle at black mountain gotta be up there in the "hard mantle" ranks
the sit start still has no send as far as i know.
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Tahoe climber
Trad climber
a dark-green forester out west
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Feb 22, 2007 - 06:28pm PT
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I think that sit starts begin loosing their appeal at 30, jaybro, not 40
FWIW, I've seen some incredibly hard mantels in gyms, too.
One really fun mantel is on Stranger Than Friction 5.10, out at Enchanted Rock in TX.
Not as hard as many of these mentioned, but it's definitely thought-provoking your first time to lead it!
-Aaron
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aldude
climber
Monument Manor
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Feb 22, 2007 - 07:11pm PT
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Check out " The Velodrome " just north of the parking area @ Echo View in SLT. V 5 ?
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bob d'antonio
Trad climber
Taos, NM
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Feb 22, 2007 - 07:13pm PT
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Pinch Overhang!
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Tahoe climber
Trad climber
a dark-green forester out west
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Feb 22, 2007 - 08:04pm PT
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which one's velodrome?
I've climbed damn near everything within my limit at Echo View, but don't have my guide book handy...
-A
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bachar
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 22, 2007 - 08:11pm PT
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kk - Killer photos, thanx. Looks classic.
The EZ mantel eh? Gotta go back down there - they're must be tons of new stuff since I last went there with Largo...speaking of which, what about that Largo mantel? the one they printed the photo of him manteling with a cigarette in his mouth...
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Feb 22, 2007 - 09:20pm PT
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Yo, Bachar, I remember the V mantle and the Pratt mantels as well. The V mantle was a joint ripper and you had to swim your way over those Pratt mantels, which got so greasy by mid-summer they became virtually impossible, at least for me.
The mantel on the Pinch Overhand is not a true mantle in the purest sense because you can reach up and pinch that flake. The stuff John B. is talking about are pure, gnarly presses, usually on totally sloper surfaces with almost no friction coefficient. I was never flexible enough to c*#k both shoulders like Dale and John and RK and Chapman et al so it was just brute force for me and I really hated it sometimes that I weighed so much. Those guys could just float that stuff while I was blowing a gasket.
That mantle you (JB) mentioned (cig in mouth) up at Black Mountain is like easy 5.12 and not in the league of these others. Like I said earlier, some of the dime mantals Powell and Henny did out at Roubidoux were fricking grave. And those Lion's Head mantles at Stoney were also super strenuous and Jim Wilson really had them dialed. In the early 70s that guy was really one of the best boulderers in the US. Crazy strong and he'd go WAY high sans cordage.
Funny thing is that manteling was huge back then and I can remember when I was climbing all the time I always had a huge callous on the palm of my left hand.
Some memorable mantels were ones that weren't max hard presses but were very balancy, like that one on the Amazon Face over by Curry Village. You had to palm off this little bullshit rill and reach way up to an edge and man, you really didn't want to pitch off from there 'cause bones would be showing if you did.
Just some rambling thoughts. . .
JL
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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Feb 22, 2007 - 09:38pm PT
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i'll never forget the first time i bouldered with KP. mike paul had dragged him down to santee, or, as henny penny would call it "rubidoux light". this would be early '76 or so.
anyway. we take him to shockly's lunge and he glides it in his tennies. i mean, he literally floated it with no visible effort. i was like..."whoa...he flashed it.....in tennies....and made it look like 5.3..."
the rest of the day went like that. towards the end of the sesh, kp started eyeballing these two half-dime edges on the back side of the black dot boulder that we'd never even noticed. he reaches up, locks his nails down, yards up and OVER the edges, presses OUT on the edges, gets a foot up and stands. swear to god, i was f*#king slackjawed. speechless.
and this was at the end of the day, on his first visit to santee.
i spent the next 20 years trying to repeat that sucker before i gave up. never saw another soul get on the thing. KP didn't even name it. he was off to the next problem without batting an eye.
i shudder to think what the guy did at roobeedoux when he was projecting....KP and henny were the best dime climbers i've ever seen, and i've seen 'em all. too swole, i say.
grave, indeed.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Feb 22, 2007 - 09:51pm PT
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For a brief period of time, I was winning. Largo noticed, but then he regressed.
How many times do I have to tel you how to spel the word?!
Sheesh.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Feb 22, 2007 - 10:51pm PT
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So Right
"On the 6th pitch climb up, then left to the base of a very intimidating corner. Surmount this (5.7) by a wild mantel maneuver, then step right and climb a long enjoyable face to the top of the rock." The Nutcracker Roper's guide 1971
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Jello
Social climber
No Ut
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Feb 22, 2007 - 11:17pm PT
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Split Rocks, CO. Late 70's.
Me doing it the easy way, with a heel hook. Still have to pop into the press, but pulling on the heel makes a lot of difference.
Mike Weis doing it the straight-forward (harder) way. Just prior to popping his elbows vertical for the press-up.
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bachar
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 23, 2007 - 12:06am PT
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Hey Jello - Using your brains (heel) counts more than using your muscles in my book. Killer pics BTW.
Mike Weiss - yeah baby,,,he could mantel - couldn't heel hook though. Nice EB's!
Etymology: Middle English mantel, from Anglo-French, from Latin mantellum (Merriam-Webster).
Largo could outpress anybody in his prime on a pure "gnarly" press out type mantel.
Come on, I know somebody's got some Largo mantel pics...
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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Feb 23, 2007 - 12:21am PT
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speaking of mantles...
FULL COURT PRESS!!!
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bachar
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 23, 2007 - 12:24am PT
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bvb - Looks like an easier but enjoyable MANTLE...nice pic too.
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Anastasia
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Feb 23, 2007 - 12:43am PT
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I am guilty of stealing this from the Stoney Point website,
Bob Camps is mantling on Turlock.
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Hootervillian
climber
the Hooterville World-Guardian
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Feb 23, 2007 - 10:05am PT
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sheesh is right. aid climbers can't even spell mantle.
i thought that largo ciggy photo was of the openers to boneheads?
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Feb 23, 2007 - 10:12am PT
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i'm gonna chalk up the bean.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Feb 23, 2007 - 10:59am PT
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Ament turned me on to mantling in the 60's. I'm surprised no one has mentioned him yet; he was a master. I remember one in C4 (but can't remember where) that Ament did as a double mantle with a really beautiful weight shift from one hand to a higher hand. Inspired, I think, by Rearick, Ament was a proficient hand-balancer and so had a great combination of pressing strength and body awareness on his hands.
With no climbing gyms (even hangboards hadn't been invented yet) a lot of us tried to emulate Gill by doing gymnastics. After Ament told me about it, I too learned to do a slow symmetric muscle-up on a bar. Then I started mantling on every idiotic sloping ledge and protuding bolt in the gym, eventually working up to repetitions of one-arm mantles (on a ledge with vertical wall below for foot scrabbling). How many years of use this took off my now continually aching shoulders I guess I'll never know.
I did some pretty hard mantles in the Gunks when I was at the peak of my one-arm mantling and slow muscle-up power. (This is now---ahem---a good 35 years ago..) They are on popular boulders that see a lot of traffic, but they never made it into the bouldering guides and I've never seen anyone doing them.
One was hard enough for me that I could only do it in the spring or fall; the additional humidity in the summer made my palm friction insufficient. I walk by it often. The rock is often surrounded by boulderers slapping their way up other problems, but it sits there unnoticed and unattempted, having faded into an obscurity that is the universal fate of fads in our world.
If mantles for their own sake have more or less disappeared from the bouldering circuit, they are still sometimes required at the top of your favorite overhanging crimp fest. And here I cannot help but be a bit amused at how weak some of today's fantastic boulderers are when they have to use pressing muscles. It is not uncommon for me to see people fire off moves of a difficulty we couldn't even have imagined back in the day, and then they totally stall on finishing mantles that we used to do with ease.
So next time you see some doddering old farts in diapers walking by your bouldering sess with toothless grins, you'll know what its about.
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BlazeOn
Trad climber
Asheville, NC
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Feb 23, 2007 - 11:24am PT
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I think "Nate" said it a while back that lots of stuff in the boone area lends itself to hard mantels (mantles). Slopey topouts. Always trips me out when some sik strong gym kid comes out and casually cranks difficult problems only to get to the mantle topout and whimper, cry, fall off and then claim "Nice send" ha ha ha. At Hound Ears Comp its like every 3rd person. Its a trip!
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crunch
Social climber
CO
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Feb 23, 2007 - 11:31am PT
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My vote goes to mantel. A mantel is a shelf. The original climbing term I remember hearing back in the 1970s was to do a "mantelshelf" move.
A mantle is a cloak, a coat.
Here's Adam Wainwright cruising Pinch Overhang at Horsetooth. It might not be a mantel, but it ain't no mantle.
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Feb 23, 2007 - 11:33am PT
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Bachar wrote: "Largo could outpress anybody in his prime on a pure "gnarly" press out type mantel."
Mighty gracious of you John, but Shawn Curtis could out press me any day of the week. I bouldered with Shawn a lot during the early 70s and it was simply ridiculous what he could press out. How about those super nasty sloper ones that turned a lip, where your legs were tucked under the overhand and you'd get a horrendoud cramp in your quad. On those, Shawn would just turn sideways in the air and hoist it like a flag going up. Then he'd pack the bong . . .
Another thing, those pics just above on the Pinch show how climbing technique has changed over the years. In the early 70s we used to mantle that sloper THEN put our foot up. Now the foot goes up and the modern climber rocks over.
Oh, and what about that weird mantel (mantle, as in cloak) at the end of the Acrobatic Overhang (a problem that pre-crash pads used to rarely get done owing to the nasty fall off said mantel at the end). Not super duper hard but don't fall.
JL
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dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
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Feb 23, 2007 - 12:01pm PT
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Another "King of the mantles" was (Dr.) Dick Schockley. Back in the day he probably rivaled (Sean)Curtis.
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rmuir
Social climber
the Time Before the Rocks Cooled.
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Feb 23, 2007 - 01:00pm PT
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Johnny, if it's a pure mantel I'm guessing that NO climber (ancient or modern) can throw a foot up first. That Pinch problem above looks to be a kind of lieback, not a press-out mantel. Remember how Ben Borsen used to press-out the Rubidoux mantels and, then, carefully put the foot BETWEEN the two hands to finish up? The Berkeley Style thing...
Gotta add my vote for Largo for mantels in his prime. ...one of the best. I recall how Peter Haan (many moons ago) praised JL as being one of the "most powerful climbers he ever had seen in the Valley" after showing me one of those obscure pure mantels of Largo's behind C4. (And Peter was no stranger to pure power...)
Other obscure mantels? How 'bout Fool On the Hill up in Baldy Canyon? (I'd add Gibo Mantel to the list, but I just saw Henny crank that off last Fall so maybe it's not that hard. He's old! (Duck, cover and hold.))
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NinjaChimp
climber
someplace in-between
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Feb 23, 2007 - 03:21pm PT
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There's a problem in C4 that I've heard refered to as "the pit stop mantle" it is just left and uphill from Ament Arete. there is a faint "knob" in the middle of a blank slab that caps a short overhang, thing is des-pirate. Did purple barrel second try for comparison, I've got many goes and zero progress on this rig. Anyone know what I'm talking about or have any luck?
There are some difficult presses in the southeast as well. Stingray comes to mind at HP40.
-Justin
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Dimes
Social climber
Joshua Tree
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Feb 23, 2007 - 04:11pm PT
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Largo, what about the bowling ball mantle in telluride. do you remember that thing. I show up there in 79 when you and "Mama" are guiding for Robbins. You take me to this overhanging boulder dotted with cobbles, some as big as bowling balls. You start throwing this hugh double handed dyno for the "bowling ball" and after a few attempts somehow hold on to the big sloping bowling ball and then if I remember correctly, turn over some burly ass mantle. I will never forget that whole experience. To this day I still cannot believe what I saw. Hoo maannn!!! As for Rubidoux, go try the Muzzle Loader. Can't remember for sure but, the C*#k may have been the first one to do it. You pull down on an edge and then turn it over, mantling on the edge of your left little finger. Then step onto the same edge and stand up. Poor landing and no pads allowed. For real entertainment, take Bolton down to the Wall of Glass and ask him to Roll Up The Window (old school 10b) for you. Powell
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L
climber
The City of Lost Angels
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Feb 23, 2007 - 04:31pm PT
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My vote's with you, too, John.
When I first started climbing I bought that "How to Rock Climb" video and there you are, mantling some chunk of granite in Yosemite like the laws of gravity weren't part of your culture.
Only after I learned how to climb somewhat did I come to understand just how incredibly superhuman that little mantle of yours was.
Yowza!
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rmuir
Social climber
the Time Before the Rocks Cooled.
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Feb 23, 2007 - 04:34pm PT
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KP said, "...take Bolton down to the Wall of Glass and ask him to Roll Up The Window..."
Actually, I think that's a Rubidoux 10a, Kevin. (Maybe 5.10 minus, on the outside.)
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rbolton
Social climber
The home for...
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Feb 23, 2007 - 04:59pm PT
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EASY, Powell...
You're gonna have to wear the dress and dance again.
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rmuir
Social climber
the Time Before the Rocks Cooled.
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Feb 23, 2007 - 05:09pm PT
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Boltman said, "You're gonna have to wear the dress..."
Can we get some video, this time?! Huh? I understand there's this thing called YouTube where you can post .avi files or summat. (Damn. I bet people would pay to see that!)
Henny and I'll bring the camera...
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Robb
Social climber
Under a Big Sky
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Feb 23, 2007 - 06:02pm PT
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Hardest?
Anything Altman said was hard.
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Feb 23, 2007 - 06:27pm PT
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Talking about the Wall of Glass, how about the Surrealistic Pillar, done by Paul Gleason in about 1909 in those hideous red PAs. Hard ass mantel on that one.
And Damn, I forgot about the Gibo mantel. Very, very slick. You had to press it out about a centimeter at a time or you'd ping off.
And Powell, or course I remember the Bowling Ball mantel. I'd been trying it for like a month straight before I finally got it that day with you and "Mama." That one was extra burly, and very difficult to stick. So far as I remember I only got that one the one time, and not for lack of trying.
Also, someone mentioned that super slick mantel by Ament's Arete. I could get that about once out of a thousand tries. My hand would always slip off the bugger.
Lastly (I could go on and on here), Ben Boreson (circa 1971/2) could also do those hideious fingertip dime mantels like nobodies bidness.
But how about Gill's Acrobatic Overhang up in Boulder Cyn.??? Nobody is speaking up about that one.
JL
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t steele
climber
bish
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Feb 23, 2007 - 06:30pm PT
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I can't believe nobody has mentioned midnight lightning's mantle yet. It isn't the hardest, but it sure spits enough people off and it is harder than purple barrle.
As for planet caravan, I sent that rig not long after jeremy did it, and there was no real mantle going on that I can remember. ALso, I don't think it was ever called V9.
In bish, I'd say the most classic mantle challenge is at the top of pope's prow. 5.10+ in the old guide...
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James
climber
A tent in the redwoods
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Feb 23, 2007 - 08:07pm PT
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There's a saying I heard at Jailhouse last weekend. Pretty close to verbatim but not quite-here's the gist. "In the seventies there was the mantle, the eighties the rose move, the nineties had the drop knee, but it's the kneebar that brought us to the new millenium."
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desert dirtbag
climber
crested butte, co
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Feb 23, 2007 - 10:15pm PT
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Don't have any photos, and don't know if it's the most difficult, but the "Wilson mantle"(or "mantel") at Big Bend, is one of the most unique moves I have ever seen. Word is it's only been done by a few people. Won't give away the beta.
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Jello
Social climber
No Ut
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Feb 24, 2007 - 02:04am PT
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Not the hardest by any means, but an integral part of the route (and the crux), is the mantel on the first pitch of Athlete's Feat, Castle Rock, Boulder Canyon. I think it got harder over the years as little flakes to pull on broke off, forcing a more pure mantel technique.
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henny
Social climber
The Past
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Feb 25, 2007 - 11:33pm PT
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Bolton: The next time Powell tries to get you to go to the Wall of Glass - tell him you'll do Roll Up the Window if he shows you how to do A Perfect Stranger first.
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Watusi
Social climber
Joshua Tree, CA
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Feb 26, 2007 - 12:05am PT
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God Blessed be! That darn Shawn Curtis could virtually dis-locate his shoulders to to press out some petty sick shite........
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henny
Social climber
The Past
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Feb 26, 2007 - 12:20am PT
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One of the most exiting mantles I've witnessed on a route would have to be Powell on the FA of El Goucho in the Whitney Portal. About 30' out on the second pitch he found a small pothole and mantled into it. After matching a foot in the hole he started to leg press, only to come to a complete halt. Seems he had inadvertently stepped directly into the sling around his neck that had the drill on it and couldn't finish standing up. There he was, looking at a huge fall, trying to reach down and half reverse the mantle so he could get his foot out of the sling. Fortunately he remained totally calm (yeah, right...), never raised his voice (yeah, right...), and was able to recover. Quite an exiting mantle, that one was.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Feb 26, 2007 - 03:52pm PT
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Yes, there is a "Mickey Mantle" - near Eightmile Rock in Leavenworth, WA. It's misidentified in the old Smoot guidebook - it's up and right from the main rock. I'm not sure if it's shown correctly in the Kramar guide.
"Retable" is another term which is sometimes used instead of "mantelshelf". There's an old route in the Quincy Quarries called Double Retable. Apparently a retable is a small shelf on an altar:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retable
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Apocalypsenow
Trad climber
Cali
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Feb 26, 2007 - 04:45pm PT
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The hardest I have ever seen is, "Eli Can't Pushup," in Tahoe. Never repeated.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Feb 26, 2007 - 07:54pm PT
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There is a Mickey Mantle route in Vedauwoo. 10d, hee hee
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scooter
climber
B loop site 15
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Feb 27, 2007 - 03:03am PT
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Behind Puppy there is a mantle that my buds and I all call the Bachar Mantle. Off two knobs, a little guy and a flat one. All with a nice little jump to start 'er off. I think it is way harder than the c4 mantles. Plus the fall is not clean. J.B.- do you know the mantle? Is it truly a Bachar Mantle? Or just something with your name ascribed to it.
Patrick
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Dick_Lugar
Trad climber
Indiana
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Feb 27, 2007 - 12:42pm PT
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Hardest mantel in the USA and that I've ever done...hmmm? That would have to be my wife's taught bum...it usually takes two hands and I have push down really hard on while I pull the move:)
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bachar
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 27, 2007 - 01:46pm PT
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Patrick - Behind Puppy Dome? hmmm...I'd have to see it (or a pic). I did a lot of problems there back in the day and I can barely remember the ultra classics!
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder
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Bachar - of course you've lost your mind - years ago as I recall -
the best and hardest mantels - and all the mantel kings are, of course, AT WOODSON.
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NinjaChimp
climber
someplace in-between
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"Behind Puppy there is a mantle that my buds and I all call the Bachar Mantle. Off two knobs, a little guy and a flat one. All with a nice little jump to start 'er off. I think it is way harder than the c4 mantles."
scooter, I know of what you speak. That one is not so bad (albeit incredibly fun), the one to the right is much harder. I couldn't even pull my weight of the ground for more than a few seconds let alone begin to mantle it out. Have you tried it? It begins on piss poor slopers at about head height.
-Justin
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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I wanna know about this frustrating mantle over at Swan Slab that's maybe 50 feet left of Grant's crack near that 5.9 lieback.
It's right in front of your face, looks like a mini-stem-jam, and there just ain't enough there to claw onto. I heard Werner can do it.
Peace
Karl "don't do mantles" Baba
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happiegrrrl
Trad climber
New York, NY
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I saw guys trying to do the Stem gem mantle all week long last trip to Jtree(my favorite campspot, for it's sociability, is #23). Some good tries, but no takers.
I like mantling, myself, but can't do anywhere near the stuff you guys are talking about. But! There is a mantle move at the Gunks on Hans Puss, 2nd pitch, mid route, that gave me pause last fall. That route earns it's stars, mindf*#king you along the way, and then...you see the belay. Right there, above you. Except..... you have to mantle up this move. It has a thin ledge, maybe half a shoe's lenght deep, with the rock wall continuing right in your face above the mantle section.
On mantles, it has always seemed to me like they're in the bag once you've gotten your center of gravity over the edge. Not on this one. You get up there, there's no tipping forward to help roll up a leg. In fact, I think I had to turn my head sideways in order to give me that little extra bit of room where my nose had been.
So, you're up there, pressing out, nose to the side, and feeling like the rock is about to push you backwards. You get the viscerable sensation that you'll be going right over backwards and rolling into the abyss if you blow it. Despite that, you have to reach hiiiiigh to get a little crimpy type of hold for balance and pull so you can get your foot to the ledge.
At least that was what happened to me. Your experience may vary.
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Jefe'
Boulder climber
Bishop
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Juan, hows about those slopers at Baldy.
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Raydog
Trad climber
Boulder
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BVB, Largo, Fish and Watusi are right - mantel king status may well have to go to Shawn Curtis.
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Leroy
climber
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Mar 26, 2007 - 05:44am PT
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I remember Bachar and I did ahard mantle somewhere left of the stemgem camp.Proof that it was hard ....Lechlinski had to come back the next week.Shawn was the best.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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bump for mantles
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Watusi
Social climber
Newport, OR
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Bump for my man Shawn...(Curtis)
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Dick_Lugar
Trad climber
Indiana
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For the record..my wife's bum!
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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It might not really be that hard - 5.10? - but you're risking a hundred-foot fall doing the mantel on the runout bumpy rock pitch of Jolly Roger. It's around the fifth pitch or so, you can see it just left of the fixed ropes going up to the base of the Heart.
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Ihateplastic
Trad climber
Lake Oswego, Oregon
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First, let's go back to a definitive source: Basic Rockcraft. Robbins spells the word as MANTLE. Okay? Enough of that.
Second, and for no particular reason since he was relatively unknown, I believe the "Tony" that Bachar is speaking about when he speaks of Kauk's old friend, Tony is Tony Lynott.
Tony, Blinny and I spent many a day at Castle Rock (Bay Area) setting and struggling on problems. Tony was a master boulderer whose ability to mantle was second-to-none that I had seen. I am not even sure where it came from since his shoulders were not bulging mounds of steel. Castle Rock has many fine mantle problems and Tony mastered them all. He went on to fame and fortune in the art world with his unbelievable stained and etched glass creations and his sculpted rock art. However, along the way he made up a little song that sits in my memory even today. He would sing this while fingering his way up some devilish testpiece:
I like cracks,
Cracks like me,
We get together,
Naturally.
Yea, I know it is childish and makes no sense, but it was fun to listen to him sing it while we squirmed in our boots at the belay.
A while back on another thread Blinny (Mark B.) posted these pictures of Tony doing his Castle Rock creation called The Cartwheel. It involved great balance and sort of an upside-down mantle.
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bhilden
Trad climber
Mountain View, CA
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Bachar mentioned Ron Kauk's friend Tony. Yes, he was one great mantler! I remember one time at Castle Rock when Tony was doing laps on the front face mantle, one-handed, a guy wanders up and says "hey! You can get your other hand up there, too!". Cracked me up!
Bruce
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Batrock
Trad climber
Burbank
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Mikey Waugh has to be one of the best mantle masters that I have seen. In fact I think he is one of the great under rated climbers of our day. He seemed to do it all with perfect ease.
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Oplopanax
Mountain climber
The Deep Woods
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Funny British article about Mantling:
http://tinyurl.com/33k8ut
Anybody here ever done the Piano in Fontainebleau? Pure two handed press from above your head down to below the waist.
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Oli
Trad climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Thanks Rich Goldstone for the kind words. I worked very hard at manteling and, during my gymnastics days, as a University of Colorado gymnast, practiced on the two-inch wide wooden ledge that ran around the inside wall of the gym. I got to where I could mantel that with one hand, starting in a hang from fingertips, pulling up, hopping the palm into mantel position, and pressing up with one arm into an elbow lock. I managed to find a few boulders like that, on Flagstaff and elsewhere. John Sherman writes about one such route in his book "Stone Crusade."
I went on tours of the Yosemite boulders with Pratt, Robbins, Bridwell, Kamps, Higgins, and others, and I managed to repeat all of Pratt's mantels (I was told many of these were second ascents, as no one yet had been able to do them, although Royal had done a few, what with his great elbow and shoulder flexibility). I put up a few of my own that no one knows about anymore, because in large part no one seemed to care in those days about mantels. I recall doing a couple Pratt showed me that he wanted to do or hadn't gotten to yet, and I did one on the Wine Boulder that was the equivalent of a hollowback off the floor, or something similar.
I used to practice mantels by doing pure muscle-ups on a bar. Anyone can do a muscle-up on a bar, but for this kind one must slowly begin to pull up (no jerk or jump to start) and, without generating any upward momentum, continue slowly above the bar, without bringing one elbow up ahead of the other, and without shifting the hands at all. Start in the best false grip you can get, to begin with, with the heels of the hand on top of the bar, then simply pull in very slow motion and press up and over evenly, with both elbows going up at the same time.
Largo, I did the second ascent of Gill's Acrobat Overhang at Castle Rock in the late 1960s, and it's a tough overhanging face climb but only looks from below to be a difficult mantel. Where it seems one must mantel, it's not really too hard to make a few face moves at that point, while half-manteling. So that one really isn't a mantel. But Gill has done many fiercely difficult mantels at locations no one would imagine, and most unknown or unrecorded, lost in some forest or obscure bouldering area, and probably more than a few unrepeated. I watched him one day do a mantel at Split Rocks, west of Estes, and in my best shape I had to work hard for a couple days to repeat it.
Rich Borgman, so light and strong, and a world-class side horse man I once competed against in a gymnastic meet, could mantel with amazing ability. I'm not sure I've seen anything like it since, though he long ago gave up climbing and went on some religious mission to Africa...
The route Goldstone speaks about that I did on Columbia, if I recall, was a first ascent, but again it's unknown to most and probably completely lost to history now, as to exactly where and which line it took. I do recall, however, doing four or five mantel routes over the big overhang left of Robbins Overhang, on Columbia. I think at least one or two of those were later claimed by others as first ascents.
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bachar
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 2, 2008 - 07:34pm PT
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Tony Lynott - yes!
He was as good as Shawn Curtis as far as I could tell. He could do that pure "butterfly" technique like no one I have ever seen. He was built like Shawn as well. Amazing pressing power. I remember he could do reps on the "Butterfly" mantle on the Wine Traverse boulder - still a pretty hard mantle by today's standards.
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PhilG
Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
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This thread, which must have recently been bumped to the front, reminds me of a funny mantel story. One of the best mantel experts I ever saw was my brother. Paul loved to mantel, and he especially loved painful mantels. For him, the harder and more painful the mantel was the better. He found a wicked little problem at Big Rock which required pressing up on a thumb shaped little fin of extruding diorite. To do this problem one had to endure excruciating pain to the palm while trying to lift one’s feet to a sloping edge of rock. Few of us could do it once let alone repetitively as he would do. It became a fixture of his boulder circuit, especially when we were out with a new climber.
One day we went out to this problem and someone had either purposefully or unintentionally broken off the small fin of rock. Paul was heart broken. It was one of his favorite boulder problems.
Not one to accept fate without a struggle, Paul found the fin of rock and next visit to Big Rock, he tried to reattach the diorite thumb with some “liquid steel.” After several attempts he had to accept that the fin wouldn’t hold to the matrix. Disappointed at first he discovered however that the numerous globs of liquid steel had hardened into a sharper and more painful spike to mantel on. So painful in fact I don’t remember seeing anyone repeat his problem.
This boulder, among many more, was destroyed when they made the present dam.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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"He was as good as Shawn Curtis as far as I could tell. He could do that pure "butterfly" technique like no one I have ever seen. He was built like Shawn as well. Amazing pressing power. I remember he could do reps on the "Butterfly" mantle on the Wine Traverse boulder - still a pretty hard mantle by today's standards."
JB, is this the same butterfly mantle at Castle Rock State Park, or is this a different boulder? Does it have two names then? We know that boulder with the "Butterfly" mantle as "The Beak".
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bachar
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 2, 2008 - 09:01pm PT
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Not the same one...there was a "Butterfly" mantle on the Wine Traverse boulder in Camp 4. I imagine there are more "Butterfly" mantles in other areas as well.
I only went to Castle Rock a few times but I do remember some pretty wicked mantles there... I imagine Tony"s testpieces still thwart many an attempt.
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wildone
climber
Where you want to be
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There's a mantel on the middle of t-crack at Gibralter Rock in SB, it's only .11b but goddamn is it hard. I couldn't even get my waist above it.
Also, on the aaproach to Olmstead Canyon (ie. tide line, lord caffeine) there's a boulder with two really hard mantels by the pond. I don't know their names.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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doh, I wasn't keeping up with the thread there. Just re-read it. disregard.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, Ca
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What is the first problem left of The Ripper, in Josh? It is a mantle, and I've seen some hard climbers fight with it. Never saw anyone win.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jan 10, 2008 - 11:38am PT
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So where does the Chouinard mantle on Columbia Boulder sit in the difficulty spectrum?
How about the Super RR mantle and Rockcraft tips shown below?
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Rankin
climber
North Carolina
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Jul 10, 2009 - 09:29am PT
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bump
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Cannon
Trad climber
Wildomar, CA
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Jul 10, 2009 - 03:25pm PT
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Author:
James
climber
From: A tent in the redwoods
There's a saying I heard at Jailhouse last weekend. Pretty close to verbatim but not quite-here's the gist. "In the seventies there was the mantle, the eighties the rose move, the nineties had the drop knee, but it's the kneebar that brought us to the new millenium."
forgive the ignorence, i am a fan of the drop knee, the heel hook, and the occational mantle, but what is a rose move?
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Cancer Boy
Trad climber
Freedonia
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Jul 10, 2009 - 04:21pm PT
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me cranking one of these at the gym recently: "Wow a rose move. Cool." younger climber: "I don't think they call them that anymore."
Origin: la rose et le vampire at Buoux, one of the world's harder climbs bitd.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOAEQmgpJqw
For full value, inhale with your nose deeply embedded in your armpit. (The move name was coined in France, after all).
I wonder what the move is now called?
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Robb
Social climber
The Greeley Triangle
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Jul 10, 2009 - 06:36pm PT
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Don't know the name of it(if it even has one), but there's a mantle on Indian Rock in Berkeley that I used to watch Dave Altman do work outs on, up down up down up down etc. "Here, you boys try it".I couldn't even hang on that smooth sloping thing. Then again neither could Harrington & he was much better than I at the time.
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Mimi
climber
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Aug 25, 2009 - 09:44pm PT
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Nostalgia bump!
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noshoesnoshirt
climber
Arkansas, I suppose
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Aug 25, 2009 - 09:58pm PT
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Yer mom
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Aug 25, 2009 - 10:06pm PT
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Walleye conquers the notorious mantle on Nutcracker Suite, probably breaker of more ankles than any other mantle in the world.
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FredC
Boulder climber
Santa Cruz, CA
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May 29, 2011 - 12:41pm PT
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I remember sometime in the mid 70s when I was pretty strong and could do that mantle at Indian Rock up and down and so on. I was in the Valley and bumped into Dale Bard in the boulders by swan slab. He showed me a mantle that was orders of magnitude harder than the stuff we did at Indian Rock. I could barely hold on to do the pull up. He mantled without inverting, just pressed up without moving his hands.
Fred
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ec
climber
ca
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May 29, 2011 - 02:10pm PT
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Besides being talented, Dale weighs in like a feather...
 ec
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FredC
Boulder climber
Santa Cruz, CA
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May 29, 2011 - 02:33pm PT
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I knew Dale from his Indian Rock days. We could tell if he had been bouldering the day before because of the total snow of chalk he would leave in his wake.
I saw him a few times after he moved to Yosemite, I remember one time he was standing around, you could see every muscle, he hardly looked human. I asked how he had gotten so strong and he said "oh, just walking a little chain". He was always pretty funny.
I think he was the strongest looking climber I have ever seen.
FC
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jahil
Social climber
London->Paris->WV->CA
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Just saw this thread for the first time, there are some wonderful stories here. I used to think it would be cool to send some of Bachar's old problems, now I'm thinking I just need to reread all his old threads!
steve
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Wish you good folk would get the spelling right,
as mantel and not mantle. Some, though, seem to insist
on the wrong spelling. They've seen it so much it feels
unnatural to do it right...
I did every mantel anyone showed me, Werner, in Camp 4. I was
focused on Pratt's mantels, but there were others. We didn't
always make much mention of some of them, really, because even
back then not many were into manteling. I had that hollow-back
press strength, as a gymnast, and could do a plange on the floor,
so that helped. It always amazed me that Pratt could do mantels
so hard without any sort of gymnastic training. I bouldered a couple
of times with Dale, but he never showed me any mantel, at least
not one I couldn't do... I'm curious about the one you mention...
I got into one-arm mantels for quite a little spell, the dead hang,
pull up by one arm, pop heel of hand onto mantel spot, push to where
elbow locks out, step into mantel, stand up... I don't think anyone
does those these days... can't imagine why they would want to...
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Feb 11, 2012 - 05:03pm PT
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Another mantel BUMP!
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~kief~
Trad climber
nor-cal
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Feb 11, 2012 - 06:57pm PT
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just saw this thread for the first time...
original post BACHAR.....MAMMOTH LAKES..07.?
WOW,......rest in peace ,BRO.
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Rankin
Social climber
Greensboro, North Carolina
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Feb 11, 2012 - 11:27pm PT
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Bruce Morris
Social climber
Belmont, California
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Feb 12, 2012 - 01:25am PT
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"Butterfly Mantel" (V7) on The Beak formation, Castle Rock State Park, Ca. Also known as the "Reider Mantel" after the first ascentionist, Rick Reider. Never seen it done again although someone says they have done it, but I think they're confusing it with the Beak Mantel.
Of course, CRSP is the land of mantels, so I imagine there are some V9 mantels out there somewhere in the Park. Does anyone know of some V9s? Must be!
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
I'm James Brown, Bi-atch!
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Feb 12, 2012 - 02:02am PT
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plenty of V9 out at the Green Monster
but we not supposed to be there,
only big kitty cats,
you fall off the monster,
you may as well start going
here kitty kitty kitty, kitty,
heeeeerere kitty kitty,
come and get it, suppa time at the park,
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KabalaArch
Trad climber
Starlite, California
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Feb 12, 2012 - 03:58am PT
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I discovered one small mantle at the front side of Indian Rock which came in handily a few times. At about a full body stretch was a nice horizontal, about an inch wide x maybe 4 inches in length. My deal was to start with a cling hold, rock up feet while extending my fingers full extension on the shelf, to make roof for the feet. An old A1 move at North Yak, in the Pinns required a similar technique, except once you pressed it out and were standing on what was pretty good feet, there was nothing but peanuts for your hands above; the wall was slightly OH too.
Scariest mantle, for me, came while following the 2nd pitch of Orange Peel, on MC North apron. The route traversed left for 50 or 60 feet out of a right facing dihedral, and the only bolt was midway to the anchors, and not intended to protect the follower. After the clip, you'd have to down-mantle a fair distance to gain friction on a steepish slab, then continue exeunt left on sustained 5.10b friction bumps to the belay. So, I'm carefully traversing over to this lonely mank. As a newbie, it didn't occur to me to maybe try some different postures before unclipping from what would have provided me a toprope...I just unclipped, then began to try a couple of really awkward feeling, and blind, positions, halting very abruptly in mid move when I could feel my center of gravity was going to barn door me into a nasty 40 foot pendulum onto the anchors. A wise move, which inspired a more balanced one, and I made my way on tippy toes to the belay.
Most all of the MCR Apron, and GPA, are really stories about mantles, from tips off of dimes, to cozy belay alcoves. Even those low angle but subtle hand inversions - fingers out, elbows in facing stone; press down on heel of hand, in some friction dish.
There can come that moment of truth, though, mid mantle, when you start feeling that "here we go!" sensation from over or undercranking, improper lockoff, underestimated the area of the mantleshelf needed for decent feets, than can be intimidating.
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
bouldering
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Feb 12, 2012 - 04:01am PT
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Can't find the video right now, but on youtube there's a dude who one-arm pulls up on a normal bar, continues - and one arm mantles it (same arm/ no feet), then levers and presses it out to the one arm handstand finish.
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Spider Savage
Mountain climber
The shaggy fringe of Los Angeles
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Feb 12, 2012 - 11:01am PT
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Lion Head rock at Stoney Point.
Anyone ever done it? I've heard about it. Seen chalk on it. Never seen it done.
Prolly not the hardest. Just damn hard.
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ydpl8s
Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
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Feb 12, 2012 - 01:05pm PT
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The 11+ mantel on that first pitch of Athlete's Feat sure seemed hard to me, and I wasn't even leading.
photo courtesy Ron Olsen and mp.com
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Bruce Morris
Social climber
Belmont, California
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Feb 12, 2012 - 02:09pm PT
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"The 11+ mantel on that first pitch of Athlete's Feat"
Isn't that mantel supposed to be 5.10c? At least it was back when I did it back in 1977!
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ydpl8s
Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
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Feb 12, 2012 - 02:23pm PT
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Well, depending on who you talk to, the key hold that you go to after the undercling and then match to bring up your feet, has either worn down or broken off. Either way, if you led that BITD, before the bolt, it might have been 10c but you had balls of steel to lead that move without it.
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Bruce Morris
Social climber
Belmont, California
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Feb 13, 2012 - 12:20am PT
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Think the bolt was there back in July 1977. However, it was a real lousy spinner with a sling (maybe?) & must have been replaced by now suppose? Must have been.
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Allen Hill
Social climber
CO.
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Feb 13, 2012 - 02:19am PT
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The bolt wasn't within reach prior to the move. You clipped a fixed knife blade and did the move. It was totally hairy. That pin was driven in upside down and looked as old as Robbins and Ament do now. And that would have been in 1978 as that was the first year I lead the pitch. It's much safer now.
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BlackSpider
Ice climber
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Feb 13, 2012 - 10:06am PT
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What's the hardest mantel in the world period? Dave Graham's problem "From Dirt Grows the Flowers" in Switzerland (done using the original method) supposedly has a V12 mantel crux move. Any other contenders? I remember there being one in Britain that gets a 7b UK tech rating (no idea what it's considered in YDS/V/Font).
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
extraordinaire
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Oct 15, 2013 - 12:59am PT
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Ain't hard, but is chill mantel none-the-less. I set up on it, and a lady approached, and gave me bad beta for my right foot.
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mcreel
climber
Barcelona
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Oct 15, 2013 - 04:07am PT
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What's that one called Biotch? "Lower than a T party debt ceiling"? Nice outfit.
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lucander
Trad climber
Shawangunks, New York
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Oct 15, 2013 - 08:54am PT
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That opening move on EBGB's at Josh is a helluva shut-down mantle.
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Mark Force
Trad climber
Ashland, Oregon
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"Anybody got pics of Dale Bard mantling?" bump
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snowhazed
Trad climber
Oaksterdam, CA
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what a rad thread- thanks for the bump
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Curt
climber
Gold Canyon, AZ
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At least a couple of the things mentioned here I don't consider to be real mantels since (as others have mentioned) you can basically face-climb past them. Acrobat Overhang and Pinch Overhang come to mind. I've done those problems and I don't mantel particularly well.
Curt
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skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
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Good thread. There is mantel problem called "speed of leather"? I love some of these names.
Is this thing really a mantle? Death Vomit; photo from MP
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jan 22, 2017 - 04:38pm PT
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Bump for midwinter mantle insurance...
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guyman
Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
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Jan 22, 2017 - 06:44pm PT
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Great bump... I always love it when a JB topic crops up....
With the winter rains, I do police Stoney some. I do stop when I see pads being unloaded and eager young boulders running down to climb.
I try to educate them, most are so new and wet behind the ears they don't know one is not climb on the sandstone when its mud.
I tell them, its ok to walk around and do the mantle problems, things like the Lion Head, the Wilson Mantles the Slant Rock mantles etc....
most give me blank stares and ask "Whats a mantle" .... I kid you knot
I guess those are not Set at the gyms.
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ruppell
climber
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Jan 22, 2017 - 06:46pm PT
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Sometime in the not so distant future:
"Grandpa, what's a mantle?"
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jgill
Boulder climber
The high prairie of southern Colorado
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Jan 22, 2017 - 08:49pm PT
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Owen Glynne Jones may have started it all back in the 1890s when he'd do his gymnastic climbing stunts in the billiard room at Wastwater Hotel in the Lake District. He would mantle on a mantle above the fireplace.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jan 22, 2017 - 09:05pm PT
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The mantle of history surrounding the historical mantel of the mantelpiece.
Before Pete blows a gasket again.
I just picked up a copy of Alan Hankinson's excellent historical examination of the Owen Glynne Jones era, The First Tigers. Quite the amazing climber was he.
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Peater
Trad climber
Salt Lake City Ut.
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Jan 22, 2017 - 11:45pm PT
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Mantling is a very useful tool. I've done some climbs that advertised no rests but I found them holding a mantle. You can unload your feet and shake out a hand.
On the other hand I'd be barfing on a 5.9 off width.
Used to be able to climb a pole like on a volley ball court. Hands as high as they could go then put a foot on top of the pole and stand up. And watch the VB game. Usually the VB game stopped when I did this though.
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martygarrison
Trad climber
Washington DC
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Jan 23, 2017 - 08:03am PT
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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Jan 23, 2017 - 08:53am PT
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Nice one Marty! Back in the days when the bar had some class! Sofas and all.
And heck, is that Fish there, having a beer?
Did you ever get on top of that rig?
And I'm not usually into bouldering vids, but this one (reposted from above) is excellent!
https://vimeo.com/27702238
Damn that looks hard!
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Mike Honcho
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Jan 23, 2017 - 10:49am PT
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Well, maybe not the hardest mantle for certain, but the one I've seen as the most spectacular and ugly if you blow it. The Midnight Lightning finish mantle.
This thing. No other way to pull this mantle off than to 100% commit to the set up, the "kip", and then see it through somehow. If you're truly committed and your foot pops you WILL bounce your face off the granite and with some level of stars in your eyes, you and your now squirting nose will fall like a sack of crap into whatever spot or pads you had at the time. Truly, the agony and the glory in one crux, mantle finale'!
Here's a humorous, yet truthful and funny "pre-mantle prep" pic..
Both pics shamelessly grabbed off of Google.
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adenparker
climber
Encinitas, CA
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Bump for hard mantles!
Here are a few pics of some recent burly ones...
Veins popping and leg cramping.
Birthday Mantle in the Boulder Batholith near Butte, MT. Classic!
This has to be one of the hardest...Curtis Mantle at Woodson. This photo doesn't do it justice...haven't heard of many repeats, if any at all. I know I've been shut down countless times.
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Aiden. Good to see you on here. How did you like the batholith? Very cool place. Tell your dad I said hi. If you are ever in CO you should hook up with my son for a few pitches.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
blah blah blah
Feb 22, 2007 - 07:19am PT
It's spelled "MANTEL" damnit! As in the mantelshelf above your fireplace.
Geeeeeeeez......
Nice to know someone else is a lert.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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The oft-repeated mantel on Little Columbia Boulder (long may it serve us and peace be on those who climb on it), called The Horn, is one which for me was almost a literal stepping stone in my development as a young climber lacking in significant amounts the requisite upper development to perform the maneuver with great ease and grace instead of thrashing around with feet dangling, trying to get the angle and the thrust upwards and the balance just so and the foot up, and all that technique sh#t.
Or else it was simply a huge ego booster, one. That sounds more like.
And along comes Jerry Coe, the Fresno Flash, to show me the OTHER WAY to do it...upside f'n down, I kid not. He grabbed the greasy horn standing and looking at Big Columia and magically arches and lands atop the would-be mantel like it's no big deal. I cannot adequately recall how he managed it, but he DID, and let's see BURT BRONSON DO IT, YA CANDY-ASS!
Not really claiming this is the hardest in the USA, but it may be if it's done like Jerry done it.
--mfm
God rest ye, John Bachar, wherever you are.
You're in our hearts so you ain't very far.
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throwpie
Trad climber
Berkeley
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The fireplace hood at the lodge? We were all hanging on a rainy day when this kid came in and truly levitated up it. Who was that I asked later. Tobin something was the answer.
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micronut
Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
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Cool old Bachar thread. Nice shots Adenparker. Keeping the lost art alive.
Scott
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FRUMY
Trad climber
Bishop,CA
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I think it died with Yabo!
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Looks like it is coming back with a new young crew. As a matter of fact I think there has been a new resurgence and appreciation of the old ways. I know in the black hills there is a strong crew that is putting up new ground up routes of extreme difficulty using clean gear and hand drilling on lead when necessary. I am sure hundreds of routes have been put up that way in the last decade after very few going in that way in the 90’s and early 2000’s. Lots of routes were going in just not in that pure old school style.
Aidan’s dad was one of those putting up the hardest limestone routes and boulder problems in the black hills in the 90’s so I am giving a big shout out to Greg.
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adenparker
climber
Encinitas, CA
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Hey Mike! I told my dad you said hey. He's definitely still into route development, now in San Diego. I'm goin to school in Bozeman, the batholith is where it's at!
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aspendougy
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Maybe make doing mantles one of the Olympic climbing events? It would be kind of like gymnastics vaulting, you get three attempts. Might be more entertaining than just watching people climb.
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Aidan. Spent a week in the batholith and climbed a bunch ice in bozone over the years. Great peeps over there.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Feb 18, 2019 - 08:16am PT
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Looks like it is coming back with a new young crew.
As a matter of fact I think there has been a new resurgence and appreciation of the old ways.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Feb 19, 2019 - 05:29am PT
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In the country of old men."Intimidating" and "wild" -- why topos are better than verbal descriptions.
I say leave it to the individual to choose his own thoughts and don't put him off from "just doing it."
FWIW, I've never manteled this move, not because of intimidation but because I didn't have the strength.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Feb 19, 2019 - 07:33am PT
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Awesome!
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adenparker
climber
Encinitas, CA
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Feb 21, 2019 - 07:08am PT
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That is a sweet shot of Ament! Looks brutal.
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Cole
Trad climber
los angeles
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Feb 21, 2019 - 11:08am PT
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Looks to be a sorta mantle crux on this V15 boulder problem, not pure though.
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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